Firm Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of Law Enforcement Action Partnership in Support of Petition for Certiorari in U.S. Supreme Court
E.H. Williams II Law & Strategy PLLC filed an amicus curiae brief on August 7, 2026, on behalf of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), supporting the petitioner’s request for Supreme Court review in Kilnapp v. Gannon, No. 26-58.
The Case
Officer Bailey Gannon fired his weapon while running down a stairwell, away from a suspect who was not pursuing him, and struck fellow officer Jennifer Kilnapp. The Sixth Circuit held that clearly established law did not put Officer Gannon on notice that his conduct was unlawful — and granted him qualified immunity despite acknowledging that a straightforward application of Supreme Court precedent meant Officer Gannon had seized Officer Kilnapp in violation of her Fourth Amendment rights.
LEAP’s Interest
LEAP is a nonprofit organization of police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials, and other law enforcement veterans who advocate for reforms — including police accountability — to make communities safer and more just. LEAP submitted this brief because it views robust accountability, including judicial accountability through cases like this one, as essential to the public trust that effective policing requires.
The Argument
The brief makes two core points:
- The Sixth Circuit’s rule doesn’t serve the purpose of qualified immunity. From Pierson v. Ray through Pearson v. Callahan, the doctrine has always balanced two interests: protecting officials who reasonably believed their conduct was lawful, and holding accountable those who acted unreasonably. Firing a weapon blindly while running away from a non-pursuing suspect was never a legitimate use of force under any formulation of that balance — this isn’t a case where the law “shifted under an officer’s feet.”
- Failing to hold officers accountable erodes the public trust that policing depends on. Effective law enforcement requires community cooperation, and that cooperation depends on the public believing that misconduct will be addressed. When officers who break an unofficial code of silence to report misconduct — as Officer Kilnapp did here — see that reporting go unanswered, it undermines confidence in accountability more broadly.
Read the Brief
E.H. Williams II Law & Strategy PLLC is counsel of record for amicus curiae LEAP in this matter.